Sailor Moon and its characters do not belong to me.

Warnings: possibly non-canon pairings, possible OOC, minimal hints of shoujo ai

Author's Note: I realize that it has been an obscenely long time since I updated this. I was essentially guilt-tripped into writing the next chapter by Bellanee chan.

Plots and Consequences

By Rapunzel

Chapter 7: Confrontations and Confusion

Her conversation with Mamoru, however brief, seemed to have an odd effect on Seiya. Setsuna had thought that he would take Mamoru's attitude as proof that his constant attentions to Usagi hadn't hurt his plan any. If anything, she expected him to redouble the attention he paid to the princess. However, the results were just the opposite. Rather than insisting that they go to hang out with the others, Seiya seemed to decide to concentrate once more on making their "relationship" believable. He came by the house to visit her, despite the chilly reception he almost inevitably received from Haruka, and they would often go out walking together or eat dinner together. Consequently, it was a little while before their next large get-together with the inner senshi.

The occasion finally did occur, however. The gathering was proposed innocently enough. Makoto had gone on a baking spree for some reason only known to herself, and left with an excess of baked goods, she decided that the best way to get rid of them was to invite everyone else over to her place and ply them with sweets. Usagi was hardly the only one in the group with a sweet tooth, and the others agreed to meet there willingly enough.

Setsuna accepted the invitation with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. She and Seiya would naturally be appearing together, and she wondered if the progress they seemed to have made previously would be apparent this time. She also wondered, with a sense of gloomy dread, whether Seiya would once again spend all of his time hanging on Usagi.

As it turned out, however, the opportunity for Seiya to forsake her again didn't arise. Much to everyone's surprise, Mamoru arrived at Makoto's place without Usagi. He informed them that she had caught a slight cold and didn't feel well enough to attend, but that she had sent him along to tell them that they should continue with the party as planned.

"I'm afraid that I'll be leaving a little early though," he told Makoto apologetically as he explained all of this to the others. "I really should go and check up on her after this."

"We should all go," Ami suggested.

"Yeah," Minako agreed enthusiastically. "Maybe make her a get well card and deliver it to her."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Michiru said. "I'm sure she'd appreciate the company."

"Well, then what are we waiting for?" Makoto said. "I've got paper and markers and scissors and things. We can eat while we get started on the card."

Everyone agreed enthusiastically to this, and soon they were clustered around the table, eating cake and cookies and arguing over paper color. Setsuna put her two cents worth in, and then simply stood back and ate her piece of cake while watching the others cut out shapes of paper to be glued on. It was decided that Michiru, who had the most elegant handwriting, would do the actual inscription in the card and then everyone else would sign it. However, everyone had an idea for beautifying the card, and they all seemed eager to draw or paste something onto it, including Seiya.

Setsuna was still standing back and smiling at the enthusiasm displayed by everyone when she realized that she had company. Mamoru had sidled over to stand next to her and was also watching the group.

"Aren't you going to help them?" she asked in surprise. "I should have thought you would be the first to jump at the idea."

Mamoru just smiled. "I already was the first," he said. "I gave Usagi my get well wishes earlier this morning. I was just wondering why you're standing over here by yourself."

Setsuna grimaced vaguely. "With all the crowd around the table, I'm not sure I'd fit. Besides, when it comes to design projects, I can be a little controlling sometimes. They'd probably rather have me wait over here and simply sign the card when they're done instead of hanging over their shoulders and kibitzing."

"Seiya seems rather eager to help out," Mamoru observed, his smile transitioning into a frown.

"So does everyone else," Setsuna said mildly.

"Have you talked to him about his behavior?" Mamoru asked her suddenly.

Setsuna hesitated, considering how to answer that. "Yes," she said slowly. "Though I'm not sure he was really listening to me."

"All the more reason for you to drop him," Mamoru said.

He was right, but Setsuna suddenly found that she didn't especially like the idea of dropping Seiya. She had been investing quite a lot of her time in him lately, and the idea of cutting off all contact between them was somewhat repulsive. Besides, it would be completely counter to Seiya's plan.

Mamoru had been watching her carefully. "You're not going to, are you?" he asked.

She shook her head vaguely. "I wouldn't have thought you really wanted me to," she said. "If I leave Seiya, that leaves him free to pursue Usagi even more."

"I'm not sure he could do it more than he already has," Mamoru replied, a note of distaste in his voice. "And I was more thinking of what would be better for you. We're a little worried, Usagi and I, about the way he treats you. Sometimes it seems like the two of you are fine, but whenever he's around her, I wonder."

That surprised her a little. She had already heard concern expressed from Usagi, and she would have expected that, since Usagi was the sort who always felt concern for the potential pain of others. But hearing the sentiment coming from Mamoru was a little unexpected. Encouraging, but unexpected.

"Thank you for your concern," she said finally.

"No need to thank me," he said, giving her the charming smile she always associated with him. Oddly, it once again failed to elicit the strong reaction in her that she remembered. "We're allies, after all, you and I. We both want the same thing; for Seiya to get his act together and leave Usagi alone."

Setsuna nodded a little. Yes, that would be nice. But really, she shouldn't think that way. After all, if the plan worked, Seiya would end up not only pursuing Usagi but actually catching her. Setsuna frowned at the thought. That was how things were supposed to go, but she couldn't quite resign herself to the idea.

Before she could contemplate too much on the subject, however, they were interrupted by Seiya himself.

"Hey," he said by way of a greeting as he walked over to join them. "I just noticed you two standing over here by yourselves. Why aren't you over with the rest of us?"

The question was reasonable enough, but there was something odd about the way he said it. His voice, Setsuna noted, held a faint undercurrent of hostility.

Mamoru smiled at him benignly. "We were just talking about relationships and that sort of thing," he said. The strange note was in his voice as well, belying the mild expression on his face.

"Really." Was it her imagination, or had Seiya's voice hardened a bit? "I can't imagine the two of you had much to talk about then."

"Oh, we had plenty to talk about," Mamoru said, his smile slipping slightly as he narrowed his eyes at Seiya.

Seiya responded by moving a little closer to her, partially inserting himself between her and Mamoru. "Well, I'm sorry to interrupt then," he said, not sounding sorry at all.

"If you were sorry, you wouldn't have done it," Mamoru replied.

"Weren't you saying you'd have to leave early anyway?" Seiya said rather pointedly. "Maybe I interrupted you just in time. I'm sure you need to get back to check up on Usagi."

Mamoru had indeed said that, but he bristled at Seiya's tone. "I don't need you to tell me what to do and when to leave," he snapped. "I have as much of a right to be here as you do. More, in fact."

Seiya's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't say that," he hissed. "I'm not one to stay where I'm not welcome, but just because you don't want me here doesn't mean I have to leave. You're not the only one here whose opinion matters." As he said it, he slipped an arm around Setsuna's waist, drawing her in closer to him as if to assert that she at least was in favor of him staying.

Setsuna looked back and forth between the two of them, feeling rather like she was caught in the middle of a minefield. One wrong step could generate an explosion at any minute. While if called upon to say so she would have agreed that Seiya had a right to be there, she was at a loss to explain his behavior. He was naturally not on the best of terms with Mamoru, but he had never been this openly hostile before. Pent up jealousy seemed to be rearing its ugly head at last, she decided. After all, Mamoru and Seiya had always been opponents when it came to Usagi; it was really no surprise that they eventually ended up in a direct argument. But Usagi wasn't there...

Suddenly, it hit her in a brilliant flash of clarity. Seiya was jealous because of her.

The revelation struck Setsuna like a ton of bricks, and she simply stood and stared at the two of them in wonder and astonishment. On the one hand, she knew that she should separate them. At the rate they were going, they might actually get into a fight, and that would be bad for everyone involved. But at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to intervene. She was too busy enjoying the warm and fluttering sensation in her chest. She had never made a man jealous before, and wasn't it a sad commentary on her life that the idea made her world spin in a completely different way than it normally did.

Fortunately for the everyone, perhaps, Haruka noticed the rising tension level and decided to intervene. "Hey you two," she said, "Are you going to sign the card or not?"

"I don't need to," Mamoru said, shooting a challenging look at Seiya. "I already got Usagi a card of my own." Nevertheless, he did retreat slightly, leaving Setsuna standing next to Seiya with his arm around her waist and Haruka standing nearby. Haruka turned her gaze to Seiya, who almost reluctantly removed his arm and said, "I'll sign it." He walked over to the table, and Haruka trailed him with her eyes. Then she turned back to Setsuna.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Setsuna nodded, unable to express herself better than that. Was she okay? Why would Haruka ask such a silly question. Of course she was okay, she was better than okay. She had made Seiya jealous. Her, not Usagi. And it suddenly occurred to her that she really wanted him to be jealous, even just a little, not only because of the ego boost it gave her, but because jealousy implied the presence of another, stronger emotion. But wait, wasn't she supposed to be in love with Mamoru?

Haruka, observing the slightly dazed look on her face, took her by the arm and guided her over to the table. "Come on, you'll want to sign too," she said.

"Mmhm," Setsuna agreed vaguely, allowing herself to be steered. As she approached the table, she noticed that Hotaru was sitting watching her. Catching her eye, the girl smiled at her in a very self-satisfied way.

'One of these days,' Setsuna thought, her mind still in a bit of a jumble, 'I am going to have to figure out how to tell what on earth that child is thinking.'

/-/-/-/

As it turned out, they did not actually see Usagi to deliver the card in person. Upon showing up at her house, her mother informed them that she was napping and shouldn't be disturbed, but agreed to convey their sentiments, along with the card, to her daughter. Setsuna felt a little disappointed that she was not to see her friend, but at the same time, she felt relieved. The warm feeling that had come from Seiya's earlier behavior still lingered, and she wasn't sure if it could have stood up to watching him flirt with Usagi.

After the partially unsuccessful visit, the party split up, and Setsuna once again found herself being walked home by Seiya. For a few minutes they stepped along together in silence until they were well out of earshot of any of the others.

"What was Mamoru really talking to you about earlier?" he asked, still looking a little put out.

"He was still trying to convince me to dump you," she told him truthfully, a small smile playing across her lips. The idea seemed a little silly to her now. Dump Seiya, just when it seemed that he was starting to change his mind about things? Never mind how much her mind had ended up changing.

"What did you tell him?" Seiya asked, still looking disgruntled.

"I didn't give him an answer," she replied truthfully. "Why, do you think I should have said yes?" The last part was not asked quite seriously, since she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"Hmph," Seiya grumbled, scowling at the pavement.

His grumpy mood only seemed to fuel her more cheerful one, however. "Why, Seiya," she challenged lightly. "For someone whose plan seems to be working, you look awfully upset."

"It's not working quite the way I wanted it to," he admitted.

"Well, how did you expect it to work then?"

Seiya opened his mouth as if to answer, found that he really didn't have a good explanation, and closed it again. "It's just not going the way I thought it would," he said finally.

It wasn't going the way Setsuna would have envisioned it either, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to care at this point. She was beginning to glimpse another way that things could turn out, and she thought she liked that possible future better. And there would be no guilt from trying to ruin her princess' love life.

"That's not a bad thing, it is?" she mused aloud.

Seiya cast her a sharp sideways glance. "Look, if we want this to work, we have to stay focused. Remember that."

Setsuna knew that perfectly well. However, she no longer wanted things to go the way they had initially planned them. And Seiya sounded more like he was trying to remind himself than her. If that was any indication, he was having second thoughts as well.

His tone of voice and the way he still seemed unhappy about her earlier conversation with Mamoru coupled with the memory of his jealousy earlier emboldened Setsuna to do something she had never before done. When they reached the front steps of the house she shared with the others, she leaned over and lightly pressed her lips to his. After a moment, she pulled back to observe the effect.

Seiya was staring at her wide eyed and a little stunned. Somehow the pole axed expression on his face only made her feel even better, and she gave him one of her rare, bright smiles as she said, "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Uh... yeah," Seiya agreed, still looking a little dazed. "Tomorrow."

Satisfied, Setsuna nodded to herself and went inside, leaving him to contemplate a whole new range of possibilities.

Tbc...